People often wonder how bloggers can earn an income from simply having a website and writing posts. It seems more like a hobby than a viable business model. Trust me, I get it.
But let me assure you, it is possible to make money blogging. Quite a bit of money, in fact!
Many bloggers regularly make thousands per month (and some of the most successful are earning over $100,000/month with theirs!)
So how do people earn a full-time income online?
The possibilities are endless, but here are seven of the most common ways to make money blogging:
Ads
An easy way to earn passive income is through ads. Google AdSense is a good place to start when your blog is new. However, it offers limited ability to target what ads it’s showing.
Once you reach 25,000 pageviews per month you can apply for programs like Mediavine. These types of ad networks are more targeted, pay higher commissions, and appear less spammy.
Affiliate Marketing
Another great way to make money blogging is through affiliate marketing. Simply put links into your site for services and products related to your content from any number of affiliate programs.
Amazon is a good affiliate program to get your feet wet. You can link to almost any product and earn a commission on everything your readers have in their cart (not just the products you’re promoting!)
However, an important thing to remember when it comes to affiliate marketing is to only promote things you truly believe are beneficial to your audience. Are they things you love yourself? Will they help make your reader’s life easier? Don’t offer something simply for a commission or you’ll look like a sellout and your audience won’t trust you.
Sponsorships
Another way to earn an income is by partnering with brands through brand sponsorships. You can help promote brands that complement your content through blog posts, social media campaigns, etc.
Similar to affiliate marketing, just make sure you’re partnering with companies that make sense for your brand’s focus so what you’re promoting is of value to your target audience.
Products
A lucrative way to make money blogging is by developing products. This could be anything from a book to printables to physical goods related to your niche.
There’s a lot that goes into creating a product for your brand, but what it should come down to is creating something that will help your audience. Is there a question you seem to answer over and over again? Have you noticed a problem in your niche that you have a great solution for?
Reach out to your audience, learn about their struggles, and create a product to address it.
Expert Tip:
You should end your price in a 7, since it has the highest sales conversion rate.
Courses
Another product you can offer is an online course. Similar to how you would approach a physical product, reach out to your audience and find out what they’re struggling with. Or take an existing product you have and develop it into a course with multiple tiers your audience can buy into.
For example, if your niche is photography you could offer a course on how to improve your reader’s photography skills. You can then offer tiered pricing with different benefits, such as the following:
Entry Level Course – $97.00
An abbreviated course on photography basics and access to a private Facebook group
Mid Level Course – $497.00
An expanded course that includes more advanced modules, access to a private Facebook group, and a detailed coursebook
High Level Course – $997.00
The expanded course, access to a private Facebook group, a detailed course book, and private mentorship sessions with you either in person or via video conference
The tiered approach is best because it allows your audience to buy in regardless of their income level, as well as offers an upsell opportunity if they want additional benefits.
If you struggle with charging people higher prices you should consider this – people value what they pay a premium for.
Say you spend $27 and $497 on two different courses. Which are you more likely to put the effort into finishing? Probably the higher priced one (how else could you justify the expense?) And in the end, the goal is to have happy customers and raving fans (which then leads to referral sales… bonus!) You can’t get those with a bunch of people purchasing but not following through, so price accordingly.
Consulting Services
You can also offer your expertise in a consulting capacity. Similar to the highest tier of an online course, people will pay for your time and knowledge.
This is also one of the harder ones to price. Oftentimes, we want to help others so badly we give our advice away for free. But what did it cost you to learn the skills you have to share? Did you purchase courses or books? How many hours did it take to learn what you know? And the big question – what is your time really worth?
A simple way to calculate what to charge is using this formula:
Desired Annual Income ÷ 52 (weeks in a year) ÷ 40 (hours in a week) = Hourly Fee
And because most people don’t charge what they should, you should consider marking that final figure up by at least 25%. Again, if you discount what you’re worth, people tend not to value your advice as much. Chalk it up to human nature.
Tours
Another fun option to make money with your blog is by leading tours. This obviously works well with blogs focused on travel, but you could do it with any number of niches.
If you blog about food and recipes you could lead tours of different eateries and restaurants that your audience would love. If you blog about art you could lead tours of street art or through different galleries. Or if you blog about the outdoors you could lead hiking and fishing tours through the mountains.
You could come up with a tour for just about anything, and it gives your audience a chance to connect with you and each other in real life.
The ways to make money blogging are limited only by your creativity. And let’s face it, if you’re running a blog you have to be pretty creative in the first place, so you’re in luck!
How will you start turning your blog into a sustainable business? Comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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